Singing with a Soundtrack

"I didn't know it was on tonight," I said.

"Yes, and I think we can get tickets," my wife said.

"Really, I thought they only did the show on Saturday night," I said assertively.

"I think you're wrong this time, Sweetheart, " she answered, calling me "Sweetheart" to soften my loss in our ongoing conflict of ideas.

"Well, I'm sure the website is accurate, but we only heard it on the radio on Saturday night when I was a kid,"I said, "Everybody knows the Grand Ole Opry comes on the radio on Saturday night!"

"Well, guess what? We're going to see it on a Friday night!" she said adamantly.

Little Jimmy Dickens (Wikipedia photo)

We had only been in the Comfort Inn a half hour since our drive from Memphis. We had visited the birthplace of rock 'n' roll at Sun Studios, so why not visit the cathedral of country music in Nashville.  It had been but a whim to check the Opry website, but once again she had found tickets to an event I had always wanted to see.  Since I was a small boy and my grandmother would hold me in her arms and dance with me to Ernest Tubb singing on the radio, I have been a fan of country music, almost continuously.   There was that time in the sixties when I got sidetracked by that other kind of music, but tonight I would see the real thing.  

We left our lodging and headed for the Grand Ole Opry House. The building was slightly reminiscent of an antebellum  southern mansion. The show originated in 1925 but is best known to have been in the Ryman Auditorium, which housed the Opry from 1943 until 1974.  I would have loved to have seen it there. But, alas, it was not to be. The place is hallowed.  Actually, when they moved the Opry they brought a twelve foot in diameter piece of the old stage from the Ryman. Younger performers can stand on the place where Faron Young, Roy Acuff, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, and other great artists performed. 

We were soon at the Grand Ole Opry House, situated in a shopping mall which was previously a theme park. Our seats were in the nosebleed section of the 4,400 seat theater. We bought hot dogs, Diet Coke, and potato chips, since we had not had our evening meal. The hot dogs were good, and dinner for ten bucks at a tourist attraction is something to write home about. The show started very promptly at 7:00 p.m.  The show is still broadcast on WSM AM radio as it has been from the beginning.  It is interesting to watch a performance that is broadcast. At times it seems that the show has stopped, until you realize that it is a commercial break much like what you see at a televised football game.  Another thing, which I thought was simply fantastic, was the changes made between acts. Any adjustments such as microphone height were made during commercials and were always spot on. When a new act came on stage there was no "Testing, 1, 2, 3"; the sound was just right.  We saw Porter Wagoner, whom I had seen on Saturday afternoon television more years ago than I care to admit. Porter had on a rhinestone covered suit just like in the old days. They're called Nudie suits, because they were made by tailor Nudie Cohn.  He actually gave Wagoner a rhinestone covered suit in 1962 with the hope that it would generate new business. Nudie soon had to move into a larger facility.

Porter acted as the host of the show. Some of the performers were the Mavericks, Janie Fricke, and everybody's favorite "Little" Jimmy Dickens.  I once had a "Little" Jimmy Dickens record, a big 78 rpm, I Always Get A Souvenir. The singing group, or rather family, The Whites performed.  They are purveyors of gospel and bluegrass music and were in one of our favorite movies, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou!. They sang Keep On The Sunny Side, and we sang right along with them.

Porter in a Nudie suit, Little Jimmy Dickens, and singing with the Whites; it was great! 

" Ya know that was a great show.  It was kinda like a flashback in time, " I said as we left the theatre.

"Country music is not like that anymore," commented Claudette.

"You're right. I think it started changing when they brought drums to the stage. 'Til then the double bass had taken care of percussion," I said.

"Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley are pretty good," said she with a sigh.

"I know, but is it country?" I posed the rhetorical question aloud.

And I pondered that thought all the way back to the Comfort Inn.